May 11, 2016

THE FEDERAL STATE DEBATE

The National League for Democracy government faces a host of daunting challenges and one of the most critical is its election promise to establish a federal state.

It is a challenge closely linked to other key issues facing the country’s first democratically-elected government in decades: ending armed conflict, ethnic representation in parliament and constitutional reform.

The creation of a federal state is an issue that has been at the heart of the country’s politics long before it gained independence in 1948.

In 1947 at Panglong in Shan State, Bogyoke Aung San and Kachin, Shan and Chin leaders signed an agreement on a formula for federalism. The Panglong Agreement accepted the principle of “full autonomy in internal administration in Frontier Areas”, but was never fulfilled. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)

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